A method is provided for a radio aware transport network. A network device obtains a first request for a status of one or more radio cells of a radio access network. The network device is configured to transmit radio traffic of the radio access network in a fronthaul packet network and is in communication with a radio controller that manages the one or more radio cells. The network device provides, to the radio controller, a second request for operational data related to the one or more radio cells. The second request is in a format specific to the radio controller. The network device obtains, from the radio controller, the operational data and determining the status of the one or more radio cells based on the operational data.